The Smell
by 123HSMluver
Summary: Gabriella gains her first apartment and turns to her friends for help when she realizes that the move in day is going to be much harder than she originally thought. ONESHOT.


**AN: Hello, my readers! It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I hope that you are all still out there! This is just a little cute idea that I thought I'd share with all of you! Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!**

The Smell

As soon as Gabriella opened the door to the apartment that she now owned, she knew that there was trouble. The old furniture that she had asked specifically to be removed, was still there, the place was _covered_ in dust, and worst of all, the most revolting fumes of body odour and mould were wafting from the apartment in waves. If it hadn't been for the landlord standing beside her and watching nervously, she would have shut the door, wiped her hands clean of the place, and walked away. Unfortunately, she'd already signed the contract to a two year lease.

"This place looks so different..." She said quietly to the man beside her. "When I toured the place earlier, it looked much more..."

"Presentable?" The landlord suggested. "I know. I hope you'll take better care of it than those frat boys did." With that, the tall man walked down the hallway and left the overwhelmed girl to her own devices and misery.

Tentatively, Gabriella entered the spacious main room and flicked on the light switch, sighing in relief as it forced the gloom to the farthest corners of the messy apartment. Walking to the other rooms and turning on the lights, she saw potential for the spacious place, and started to form a game plan. It wouldn't take long to give the entire place a good cleaning, she knew some people that she could call to come and drag this old furniture out, but as for the smell...that was another story.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriella hurried down to her car parked beside the apartment building, grabbed her cleaning supplies, and then darted back up again, her mind working a mile a minute. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and texted Troy, Chad, Ryan, and Jason asking them all to come help her with the furniture. Within minutes they had agreed and Gabriella started to clean, feeling a bit more cheerful.

Half an hour later, the main room was empty and she was halfway cleaning the windows from top to bottom, much to Troy's amusement. Chad and Jason were manoeuvring the old couch down the three flights of stairs, and Ryan was down at her car, starting to heave her many boxes of belongings to set up.

"If you don't stop staring at me, I _will_ throw this dirty water at you!" Gabriella chided, turning to shake the sponge at her boyfriend.

"You're just so...funny!" He replied, completely ignoring her threat with a smile.

"How is my cleaning funny?" Her tone was light, but she was beginning to get a little irritated at his amused smirk.

"You get all angry when a smudge won't get off the window...it's funny...and cute!"

"Oh shut up, and help me!" She cried, exasperated.

"Someone's a little cranky!" Troy said in a sing-song voice, tickling her as he picked up a spare sponge and started on another window.

Gabriella didn't say anything, but most of her anger dissipated at the teasing in Troy's face. She was completely aware that he was just playing and normally she'd be teasing him right back, but her new worries had her preoccupied and stressed out. They worked in silence for a while, broken only by Ryan dropping off box after box, and Chad and Jason trying to figure out the easiest way to get a cracked wardrobe out of the door.

When they had a moment alone, however, Troy sighed and walked over to her, dropping his sponge and watching her intently. Gabriella ignored him for a moment, but soon, she met his eyes and bit her lip, knowing that he was reading her emotions and had figured out that she was frazzled.

"Brie, everything's going to work out. Stop panicking, okay?"

"Everything's so disgusting! It wasn't like this when I looked at it, Troy, and now I'm stuck with this dump!"

"It won't be a dump by the time we're done with it, and besides – anything you touch always turns out to be amazing. I'm the perfect example!"

He pulled her into a hug and Gabriella let out a long sigh, trying to believe in what he was saying. Neither one of them moved, standing there together in the sunlight, listening to the sounds around them and absorbing the fact that they had each other to rely on. The moment was perfect.

Except for that damn smell!

"Do you have any idea how to get rid of that stupid smell?" Gabriella moaned, breaking their hug and running a hand through her hair as she started on a the window again. Troy sighed, rolled his eyes and joined her once more.

"Have you checked with your mom?"

"I can't believe I didn't think about that!" Gabriella cried in disbelief, texting her mother with a frustrated expression.

_APARTMENT STINKS, DO U KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE SMELL?_

Ryan came up with the last of the boxes and then started vacuuming in the other rooms without Gabriella asking him to do so. For the first time since seeing her new home, she started to relax. As long as she had her friends and Troy, everything would be alright.

_EMAILED U INSTRUCTIONS. GOOD LUCK, GABI _Her mom replied a few minutes later.

Instructions? If she couldn't fit it in a text message, the process had to be pretty complicated. Gabriella made a face and opened up her email program on her phone, scanning through the words quickly and trying to stay hopeful. None of this was going as planned.

Two hours later, after a quick lunch break, the apartment was sparkling clean and littered with boxes and furniture. The boys were exhausted and Gabriella sent them home with many thanks, feeling more hopeful now that the place was clean and her things were in the rooms. Troy was the last one to go, arguing that he wanted to stay and help.

"Troy, you've done enough. Go home and relax, okay?"

"No promises!" He grumbled, kissing her and then leaving her alone.

Before Gabriella started unpacking and moving the furniture, she mixed up the concoction that her mother and suggested, pouring the various cleaning products into the empty febreeze bottle and walking from room to room, spraying the solution 'generously' as the instructions had told her to do. Once that was done, Gabriella slowly started unpacking the boxes, starting with the curtains and pulling out her familiar belongings.

It was late at night when she had finished, but Gabriella was happy with the product. The rooms were odour free, her belongings were in their new places, and it was starting to feel like home. As soon as her hands were still and her mind satisfied, however, her heart started to ache.

_I MISS U MOM. _Gabriella texted, crying a few tears before she got control of herself.

_MISS U 2, SWEETIE, WILL CALL 2MORROW. LOVE U!_

There was a knock on the door and Gabriella peeked through the tiny hole, before smiling and allowing Troy into her new home.

"You don't listen very well!" She said in greeting, but she was glad to see him.

"Yeah, yeah." He replied, walking around the apartment and taking in her handiwork. Gabriella followed him around anxiously, hoping the place looked alright.

"What do you think?" She asked when he turned to her.

"It's very Gabriella." He chuckled and pulled her into a hug, much to her relief.

"I miss my mom." She whimpered before she could stop herself.

Troy was silent for a long moment, his fingers tracing soothing patterns on her back, his breathing calm and slow.

"This is a big step for you, Brie, of course you miss your mom. But you've got people here that love you, you know that right?" He said finally, his voice thick with emotion.

"Of course I do." She whispered. "I'm just.."

"Scared." Troy finished, pressing his forehead against hers. "You're just scared. That's okay."

He kissed her gently, and Gabriella started to cry again, feeling like everything was falling apart around her. Troy led her over to the couch and then pulled her onto his lap, letting her hide in his arms and cry until she ran out of tears.

"I'm so glad that you're here." She whispered finally, her fingers holding fistfuls of his shirt and her hair stuck to her face.

"I'm glad I'm here too, Brie. This is something that you can't go through on your own."

"It's just moving into an apartment, I don't know why this is such a big deal! I was totally fine when I was searching, and even when I was moving in this morning. Now everything seems stupid and senseless. I want to go home, Troy." Her voice broke.

"I'm here." He murmured, kissing her cheeks, her forehead, "I'm here. And soon this is going to start to feel like home."

"It feels like home when you're here." She whispered, holding his gaze with a small smile.

Troy kissed her again and wrapped her arms around his neck, calming down a bit now that she had admitted her fears to him.

"I love you, Brie. And you're never going to be alone as long as I'm around, okay?"

"I don't know what I'd ever do without you." She replied quietly, kissing him again.

"You won't ever have to worry about that." He promised, almost making her cry again.

"I love you too, by the way."

"I know."

They kissed again, and Gabriella felt the ache go away, replaced by the familiar, comforting blanket of security that Troy's presence always gave her, giving her something to cling to. Troy suddenly broke their kiss and looked around in amazement.

"The smell's gone!"

Gabriella laughed.

"My mom's plan worked, it smells much better now."

"Now it really is home."

She took in Troy's happy face and stroked his cheek, her voice quiet and loving.

"It really is."

**AN: Okay, so this was pretty corny as far as the ending was concerned, but I hope that you all enjoyed it anyway. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading everyone, I really appreciate it!**


End file.
